One of the more useful buttons on a computer is the power button.

Press it once and your machine usually springs to life, enabling you to do your work, surf the Internet, play games, etc. Once your computer is on the power button usually isn’t all that useful and most people don’t even use it to turn the computer off. Did you know though that you can actually configure what the power button does when pressed?

Believe it or not, you can actually set it so that your system will do one of four things when the power button is pressed. These are:

1. Turn off – This will tell your system to shut down.
2. Sleep – This will put your computer to sleep.
3. Hibernate – This will power down your computer, while remembering the programs you had open. When you wake up the computer, the programs will be reopened as well.
4. Do nothing!

How to configure the power button on Windows 8

If you have Windows 8 you can configure what the power button does by:

• Opening the Settings charm by either moving your mouse to the top-right corner and selecting Settings or pressing the Windows key+C.
• Clicking on Control Panel and searching for power or power button. Select Change what the power buttons do.

In the window that opens, you should see two options beside When I press the power button. One will be On battery and the other Plugged in if you have a laptop. Desktop users will likely only see the Plugged in category. If you click on the drop-down box in this section, you will be able to select what pressing the power button does when pressed. Pressing Save changes will implement the selection.

How to configure the power button on Windows 7

If you have Windows 7 you can configure what the power button does by:

• Clicking on the Windows Orb at the bottom left of your screen.
• Selecting Control Panel and searching for power or power button in the Search bar at the top-right of the window. Select Change what the power buttons do.

In the window that opens, you should see two options beside When I press the power button. One will be On battery and the other Plugged in if you have a laptop. Desktop users will only see the Plugged in category. If you click on the drop-down box in this section, you will be able to select what pressing the power button does when pressed. Press Save changes to implement your selection.

After making any changes to what the power button does, it is a good idea to ensure that it is working properly. Save all of your work and then press the button to see what happens.

There is so much you can do using Windows 7 or 8 in your office? Get in touch with us to learn more and see how we can help.